Editing Liam Cosgrave (section)

==Taoiseach (1973–1977)==
[[File:Photograph of President Gerald R. Ford, First Lady Betty Ford, and Prime Minister and Mrs. Liam Cosgrave of Ireland Standing and Waving On the Blue Room Balcony during the Arrival Ceremony for Prime Minister Cosgr(...) - NARA - 7840004.jpg|thumb|right|Cosgrave and [[Vera Cosgrave]] with US President [[Gerald Ford]] and [[Betty Ford]] in 1976]]
{{Main|14th government of Ireland}}
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2022}} 
After the [[1973 Irish general election|1973 general election]], Cosgrave led a [[14th government of Ireland|coalition government]] of Fine Gael and the [[Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour Party]], formed on 14 March. He adhered to the implementation of the Fourteen Point Plan on which the National Coalition was elected. Among the government ministers were future Taoiseach and writer [[Garret FitzGerald]], former United Nations diplomat [[Conor Cruise O'Brien]], television presenter and veterinary professor [[Justin Keating]]. Cosgrave balanced these with hardline Christian Democrats such as [[Richard Burke (Irish politician)|Richard Burke]], former teacher [[Peter Barry (politician)|Peter Barry]] and west Dublin farmer [[Mark Clinton]]. He appointed [[Richie Ryan (politician)|Richie Ryan]] rather than Garret FitzGerald as his [[Minister for Finance (Ireland)|Minister for Finance]] when the Labour Party leader, [[Brendan Corish]], declined the position in 1973. Ryan, a Dublin solicitor, was of typically conservative Fine Gael stock. Nevertheless, Ryan (dubbed "Red Richie" by Fianna Fáil) implemented the Coalition's plans to replace death duties with a range of capital taxes, including Capital Gains Tax and Wealth Tax. Fianna Fáil strongly opposed these new capital taxes and garnered considerable support from the wealthy and propertied classes as a result that would stand them in good stead in future elections.

The [[1973 oil crisis|world energy crisis]] triggered by the [[Yom Kippur War]] in October 1973, which caused inflationary problems, and constrained the coalition fiscally.

===Contraception===
In December 1973, the [[Supreme Court of Ireland|Supreme Court]] declared the [[Contraception in the Republic of Ireland#Ban on sales|ban on the importation of contraceptives by married persons]] to be unconstitutional. [[Patrick Cooney]], the [[Minister for Justice (Ireland)|Minister for Justice]], introduced legislation in 1974 to regulate and allow married couples to obtain contraceptives. Fianna Fáil opposed any liberalisation of the law on family planning and opposed the bill in the Dáil on grounds of protection of public morality and health. In line with his conservative credentials, and on a free vote, Cosgrave, without warning, crossed the floor to help defeat the bill in the summer of 1974.

===Clashes with the Presidency===
The coalition suffered an early electoral defeat in the [[1973 Irish presidential election|1973 presidential election]], when [[Fine Gael]] candidate [[Tom O'Higgins]] was defeated by the Fianna Fáil candidate, [[Erskine Hamilton Childers|Erskine H. Childers]]. Childers had sought the presidency with promises of making the office more open and hands-on, in particular with plans to create a [[think tank]] within [[Áras an Uachtaráin]] to develop an outline for Ireland's future. Cosgrave refused to allow it, and frustrated Childers' plans to break with the restrained precedent of his office.

Childers died suddenly in November 1974. His successor [[Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh]], a former [[Chief Justice of Ireland]] and former [[Attorney General of Ireland]], was an [[1974 Irish presidential election|agreed candidate in an unopposed election]]. Ó Dálaigh was identified with [[Fianna Fáil]].<ref name="HistoryIreland2007-09/10a">{{cite web|url=http://www.historyireland.com/20th-century-contemporary-history/tv-eye-16/|title=Review of TG4's Wasted by a sojourn in the Park?|publisher=History Ireland|first=John|last=Gibney|date=October 2007|access-date=7 October 2017|quote=Published in 20th-century / Contemporary History, Issue 5 (Sep/Oct 2007), Reviews, Volume 15  … Alongside a natural Fine Gael distaste for a Fianna Fáil president, the cultured and cosmopolitan Ó Dálaigh … John Gibney is an IRCHSS Government of Ireland fellow at the Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities and Social Studies, NUI Galway.|archive-date=8 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008030941/http://www.historyireland.com/20th-century-contemporary-history/tv-eye-16/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Independent2006-10-29a/> Ó Dálaigh was also a noted critic of the curtailment of free speech and was highly critical of the introduction of [[Censorship in the Republic of Ireland#The Troubles|Section 31]] of the Broadcasting Act, which forbade the broadcast of the voices of [[Sinn Féin]] members. This put him at odds with Cosgrave, whose government had strengthened the Act. Cosgrave also briefed President Ó Dálaigh only once every six months, which was, in the President's opinion, too infrequently as well as too inadequately.<ref name=Independent2006-10-29a>{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-many-resignations-of-o-dalaigh-26418031.html |title=The many resignations of O Dalaigh |newspaper=The Irish Independent |location=Dublin |first=Ronan |last=Fanning |date=29 October 2006 |access-date=7 October 2017 |quote=I would however be failing in my duty if I did not also record here – for history – that since I entered on the Presidency on 19 Dec. 1974, on none of your infrequent visits to Aras an Uachtarain did you, in your conversations with me, say anything to me that could be construed even remotely to amount to keeping the President generally informed on matters of domestic and international policy – a mandatory requirement of your office under the terms of article 28 (6) (3) of the Constitution. … But the Taoiseach proved as unprepared to call on the President as the President was unprepared to receive the Minister for Defence. Cosgrave's reluctance was in part born of what his government regarded as O Dalaigh's pretensions: to see himself as akin to a third house of parliament. Nor would O Dalaigh's life-long identification with Fianna Fail (a protege of de Valera since his appointment as Irish editor of Irish Press (1931–40) and as a Fianna Fail attorney general (1946–48 and 1951–53) subsequently elevated to the Supreme Court by de Valera's government) have endeared him to so staunchly a Fine Gael taoiseach. |archive-date=8 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008030900/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-many-resignations-of-o-dalaigh-26418031.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=IrishTimes1998-11-26a>{{cite web |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/flawed-office-needs-an-injection-of-harmony-1.218873 |title=Flawed office needs an injection of harmony |newspaper=The Irish Times |location=Dublin |first=Jim |last=Duffy |author-link=Jim Duffy (journalist) |date=26 November 1998 |access-date=8 October 2017 |quote=President O Dalaigh was treated disgracefully, being briefed once every six months by Liam Cosgrave, "an act of constitutional defiance" in O Dalaigh's view, but there was nothing he could do about it. ... |archive-date=8 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008081437/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/flawed-office-needs-an-injection-of-harmony-1.218873 |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition, Cosgrave frequently interfered in Ó Dálaigh's constitutional role as the state's representative to foreign governments; he was not permitted to receive the [[Legion of Honour]] from [[France]], although former president [[Seán T. O'Kelly]] had previously received it, and Cosgrave attended the United States' bicentennial celebrations in 1976 in Ó Dálaigh's place.<ref name="Uachtaráinodalaigh">{{cite video |people=Diarmaid Ferriter |date=2007 |title=Uachtaráin – Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh |url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6651077580342435606# |medium=Television production |language=Irish |publisher=TG4 |location=Dublin |access-date=20 January 2011}}</ref>

The government had introduced the Emergency Powers Bill following the assassination in July of the British Ambassador to Ireland, [[Christopher Ewart-Biggs]], by the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|IRA]]; it had passed the Dáil on 21 September. After consultation with the [[Council of State (Ireland)|Council of State]], Ó Dálaigh exercised his power to refer the Bill to the Supreme Court two days later to test its constitutionality, bringing him into more direct conflict with the government. Although the Court ruled that the Bill was constitutional, and Ó Dálaigh signed the Bill into law on 16 October, an IRA action on the same day in [[Mountmellick]] resulted in the death of a member of [[Garda Síochána|Garda]] Michael Clerkin. Cosgrave's government, already infuriated, blamed Ó Dálaigh's delaying enactment of the bill for Clerkin's murder.<ref name="Uachtaráinodalaigh" /> On 18 October [[Minister for Defence (Ireland)|Minister for Defence]] [[Paddy Donegan]] attacked the President for sending the bill to the Supreme Court, calling him a "thundering disgrace".<ref>{{cite book|first1=Gene|last1=Kerrigan|first2=Pat|last2=Brennan|title=This great little nation: the A-Z of Irish scandals & controversies|publisher=Gill and Macmillan|year=1999|page=287}}</ref>

Cosgrave called Ó Dálaigh to inform him of Donegan's speech, but refused to meet with him in person to discuss the matter, partly due to his dislike for Ó Dálaigh's Fianna Fáil links and perceived pretensions,<ref name=Independent2006-10-29a/> fuelling the president's anger. He refused to receive Donegan when he came to personally apologise.<ref>{{cite news |title=The many resignations of O Dalaigh |author=Fanning, Ronan |work=The Irish Independent |url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-many-resignations-of-o-dalaigh-136320.html |date=29 October 2006 |access-date=20 January 2011 |archive-date=12 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090512174231/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-many-resignations-of-o-dalaigh-136320.html |url-status=live }}</ref> When Cosgrave then refused to accept Donegan's resignation, this proved the last straw for Ó Dálaigh, who resigned on 22 October 1976 "to protect the dignity and independence of the presidency as an institution".

===Northern Ireland===
The Government signed the [[Sunningdale Agreement]] in December 1973, an attempt to resolve political troubles in Northern Ireland. A power-sharing executive was set up and a Council of Ireland was to be established. The institutions established under the Agreement collapsed in May 1974 as a consequence of the [[Ulster Workers' Council Strike]]. In addition, many [[Irish Republicanism|Republican]] voters were angered by what they saw as Cosgrave's harsh line on the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|Provisional IRA]] and the handling of the [[Dublin and Monaghan Bombings]].

The 2003 Barron report on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings noted that the Fine Gael/Labour government of the time "showed little interest in the bombings" and did not do enough to help the investigation.<ref name="barron275-276">Barron Report (2003), pp.275–276</ref> "When information was given to them suggesting that the British authorities had intelligence naming the bombers, this was not followed up".<ref name="barron275-276"/> It failed to put political pressure on the British government to secure better co-operation from the RUC. It was also alleged that the Fine Gael/Labour government caused or allowed the Garda investigation to end prematurely, for fear that the findings would play into the hands of republicans.<ref>Barron Report (2003), p.125</ref> However, the Inquiry had insufficient evidence the investigation was stopped as a result of political interference.<ref name="barron275-276"/>

Both ''[[The Irish Times]]'' and the ''[[Irish Press]]'', which was edited by [[Tim Pat Coogan]], were extremely critical of the government's curtailment of freedom of speech and in particular of the [[Minister for Posts and Telegraphs]], [[Conor Cruise O'Brien]] which was used against the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|IRA]]. Coogan declared what he dubbed "editorial war" on the government after a, now notorious, interview between Bernard Nossiter of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' and O'Brien in August 1976 regarding the passage of the Emergency Powers Bill. During the course of the interview, O'Brien stated that he would've liked the bill to be used against teachers who glorified Irish revolutionaries and against newspaper editors who published letters in support of Republicans.<ref>{{cite book|title=The I.R.A.|first=Tim Pat|last=Coogan|pages=421–422}}</ref> The coalition attempted to prosecute ''The Irish Press'' for its coverage of the maltreatment of republican prisoners by the [[Garda Síochána#Allegations involving abuse of powers|Garda "Heavy Gang"]], with the paper winning the case.<ref>{{cite book|first=Tim Pat|last=Coogan|title=The troubles: Ireland's ordeal, 1966–1996, and the search for peace|publisher=Palgrave MacMillan|year=2002|page=380}}</ref> Cosgrave was accused of taking an anti-republican or pro-unionist line on Northern Ireland.

===Economic measures===
The Cosgrave government's tough austerity measures alienated the public. Finance Minister Richie Ryan was nicknamed 'Richie Ruin' on a satirical TV programme, ''[[Hall's Pictorial Weekly]]''. Marginal income tax rates came to 77% one year. The electorate had not experienced unemployment and hardship of this nature since the fifties and the Government became quite unpopular. The hard-line approach to law and order, and the economic difficulties were quite damaging to Cosgrave and Corish's popularity.

===Welfare measures===
In the field of social security, a number of important reforms in welfare provision were introduced during Cosgrave's premiership. In 1974, sickness insurance, unemployment insurance, and occupational injuries coverage were extended to all employees, while earnings-related components were added to the basic flat-rate sickness benefit, the basic flat-rate short-term occupational injury benefit, and the basic flat-rate unemployment benefit. That same year, pension insurance was extended to all employees, and a means-tested allowance for the wives of prisoners was introduced.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GaWtd5zJfB8C&q=growth+to+limits+ireland+old+age+pension+insurance+for+all+manual+wage+earners&pg=PA248|title=Growth to Limits: The Western European Welfare States Since World War II|first=Peter|last=Flora|date=6 October 1986|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=9783110111316|via=Google Books|access-date=29 April 2021|archive-date=29 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429151053/https://books.google.com/books?id=GaWtd5zJfB8C&q=growth+to+limits+ireland+old+age+pension+insurance+for+all+manual+wage+earners&pg=PA248|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition, welfare benefits were increased by 125% during the course of Cosgrave's premiership.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Ambiguous_Republic/qN-jf5dN7QAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=He+chuckles+at+the+memory+of+meeting+Cluskey&pg=PR6-IA17&printsec=frontcover Ambiguous Republic Ireland in the 1970s By Diarmaid Ferriter, 2012]</ref>

==="Blow-Ins": 1977 election===
In May 1977, Cosgrave addressed a Fine Gael Ard Fheis on the eve of the [[1977 Irish general election|general election]]. He made a strong attack on "blow-ins" who could "blow out or blow up". This was taken to be an attack either on [[Kader Asmal]],<ref name=IrishTimes2017-10-04a>{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/fintan-o-toole-how-liam-cosgrave-embodied-the-state-1.3244561 |title=How Liam Cosgrave embodied the State |newspaper=The Irish Times |location=Dublin |first=Fintan |last=O'Toole |author-link=Fintan O'Toole |date=4 October 2017 |access-date=8 October 2017 |quote=or the unnamed "blow-ins" (assumed to be the foreign-born Kadar Asmal and/or Bruce Arnold) he threatened to "blow up". |archive-date=8 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008081444/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/fintan-o-toole-how-liam-cosgrave-embodied-the-state-1.3244561 |url-status=live }}</ref> founder of the Irish Anti Apartheid Movement and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, or on [[Bruce Arnold (author)|Bruce Arnold]],<ref name=IrishTimes2017-10-04a/> the British-born political writer in the ''[[Irish Independent]]'' newspaper who had been vociferously opposed to Cosgrave's policies, particularly regarding the President and the wealth tax. While the Fine Gael grassroots loved it,<ref name=SligoToday2017-10-08a>{{cite web |url=http://www.sligotoday.ie/details.php?id=47563 |title=Liam Cosgrave – life and duty observed |work=Sligo Today |first=Eugene |last=McGloin |date=8 October 2017 |access-date=8 October 2017 |quote=No less funny to his own party but no less menacing to others was a speech by Cosgrave when I sat just yards away at an Árd Fhéis. He was talking about journalists who had the temerity to criticise his government, the Cosgrave and Corish Cabinet with ''all the talents.'' The Taoiseach had a message for them; these blow-ins should blow out or blow up. |archive-date=8 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008130339/http://www.sligotoday.ie/details.php?id=47563 |url-status=live }}</ref> it backfired politically.<ref name=McCarthy2006a>{{cite book| last = McCarthy| first = John Patrick McCarthy| title = Ireland: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present| publisher = [[Infobase Publishing]]| year = 2006| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8Olr8Iu9RAwC&q=%22Liam+Cosgrave%22+Blow-ins&pg=PA520| isbn = 9780816074730| page = 520| quote = 1977 - Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave's attack on a journalist as a "blow-in" at Fine Gael party conference backfires politically (May).| access-date = 29 April 2021| archive-date = 29 April 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210429151055/https://books.google.com/books?id=8Olr8Iu9RAwC&q=%22Liam+Cosgrave%22+Blow-ins&pg=PA520| url-status = live}}</ref>

[[James Tully (Irish politician)|James Tully]], the Labour [[Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage|Minister for Local Government]] had redrawn the constituency boundaries (the "[[Tullymander]]") and had expected that the new boundaries would favour the two government parties. [[Dublin]], apart from [[Dún Laoghaire]], was divided into some 13 three-seat constituencies where Fine Gael and Labour were to take one seat each reducing Fianna Fáil to a minority rump in the capital. The election campaign started without Cosgrave taking any opinion polls in advance and was therefore unaware of the extent of Fianna Fáil's support. During the campaign, the National Coalition made up some ground but the Fianna Fáil manifesto of promises (including the abolition of rates, and the car tax) was proved very popular in the electorate and the National Coalition was heavily defeated, with Fianna Fáil winning an unprecedentedly large parliamentary majority, including unexpected second seats in many Dublin constituencies.

In the immediate aftermath, Liam Cosgrave resigned as Fine Gael leader, to be succeeded by [[Garret FitzGerald]]. Cosgrave retired at the [[1981 Irish general election|1981 general election]].